FRISCO, Texas — Across the street from the Ford Center at The Star lies the headquarters of Complexity Gaming.
If you ask founder and CEO Jason Lake about their headquarters' positioning, it's probably in the best place possible.
Spanning nearly 20 years in esports, with Lake being there during every step, Complexity Gaming took quite the interesting turn when the organization was purchased in 2017 by a name known globally, but mostly by everyone in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Jerry Jones.
Since the partnership between Complexity and the Dallas Cowboys began, the esports organization has looked at their partner as guidance for running teams and keeping team members healthy and mentally prepared.
Lake spoke to WFAA about the similarities he's seen between traditional sports and esports since he founded Complexity and how running an esports organization is more than just focusing on video games.
"I always saw [esports] as the perfect convergence of a sporting competition and the gaming, nerd culture that I was very passionate about… I was always adamant this was the next global sport," Lake said.
"We recruit and identify perspective professionals similar to how other professional leagues do," he added. "We take their lifestyle from the food they eat to their exercise to their medical care to their mental health to their training environments to a level never seen in any kind of video game environment."
Lake said Complexity's facilities at The Star, which opened in 2019, have been taking after the Cowboys' in terms of going for the best.
"If you think, ‘Wow, I bet those Cowboys players have the best facilities,’ they do. The best food, they do. The best coaches, they do. The best scouts, they do... Well, so do we," Lake said.
Their facilities have areas for mental health breaks, player lounges, a room that mimics the lights and sounds of large arenas and a room for research and development that looks into the science of improving the health and gameplay for players.
"We embark upon studies of the mind. And in the eyes and sleep and how nutrition affects your twitch reaction speeds," Lake said. "... We're applying it to make sure our gamers have long careers."
As for the continued relationship with the Cowboys, Lake said he wants Complexity to set the standard for partnerships in the esports industry.
"I think, if anything, our relationship with the Cowboys is an example for other organizations that want to integrate with sporting groups on how to do it and the best practices," he said.
Wanting to defeat the "stereotype of unhealthy kids," Lake said Complexity is training its players like professional athletes.
And with a star as its logo and the unique relationship with "America's Team," the Complexity founder and CEO felt confident in his summary of his organization.
"We are basically the Dallas Cowboys of gaming."
